Anti-slavery and human trafficking statement

Opening statement from our directors

Page White Farrer is committed to preventing acts of modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within its business and supply chain, and requires the same high standards of its suppliers, associates and clients.

 

Professional ethics and accountability have always been at the forefront of how we run our business and this anti-slavery and human trafficking statement sets out how we uphold the principles of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.

 

Organisation

Page White Farrer is a leading firm of specialist patent and trade mark attorneys based in Europe with offices in the UK (London, Leeds and Exeter) and Germany. Our expertise includes handling intellectual property rights on behalf of clients located all over the world.

 

Page White Farrer is a trading name of Page, White & Farrer Limited (company number 01319458), a private limited company registered in England & Wales whose registered office address is Bedford House, 21a John Street, London, WC1N 2BF.

 

Our group also includes Page, White & Farrer Germany LLP.  This is an English limited liability partnership (company number OC416920) which also has its registered office at Bedford House. This entity runs our German operations, employs the German staff who work in our Munich office and contracts with our German suppliers. 

 

This statement is made on behalf of Page White Farrer.

 

Page White Farrer has over 70 employees and a global annual turnover of around £11 million. To find out more about the nature of our business, please click here.

 

We are a regulated provider of intellectual property services and employer of predominantly professionally qualified and highly skilled people.  For this reason, we consider that the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking within our group of companies is very low.

 

We and our legally qualified employees are regulated by the following professional bodies and codes:

• Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg); and
• Code of conduct of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office.

 

Supply chains

In order to provide a truly global service to our international client base, our supply chain includes working alongside other regulated professional services firms, including a global network of law firms and patent and trade mark attorneys. As a result, we consider these partners to be of low risk in relation to slavery and human trafficking.

 

Where we rely on external suppliers for goods and services such as cleaning and maintenance services in London, we ensure that such partners pay a London living wage to their employees and workers. We ensure that all external suppliers for goods and services such as recruitment, office supplies, IT equipment, and cleaning and maintenance services are reputable.

 

We therefore consider that there is a very low risk of slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain and do not believe that we operate in high risk sectors or locations.

 

Due diligence, risk & practices

Page White Farrer seeks to underpin its commitment to good practices by ensuring (amongst other things) that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.

 

If we were to discover a material failure to comply with this and other issues such as bribery and corruption, we would immediately look to terminate our relationship with the relevant client or supplier.

 

Based on our understanding of our business sector and of our own supply chain, we believe there is a very low risk of slavery or human trafficking in connection with the firm’s activities. However, we do take steps to draw these issues to the attention of staff and we expect them to comply with our policies (including on issues such as anti-bribery and corruption, diversity and inclusion, and money laundering) and encourage them to notify us of any potential areas of non-compliance.

 

Further actions and sign-off

Following our review of our actions this financial year we are satisfied that our business provides little opportunity for slavery or human trafficking, either within our group or through our interactions with suppliers, clients and other professional services providers.

 

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes Page, White Farrer’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year commencing 2023 and ending 2024.

 

This statement was approved by the board of Directors on 11 April 2024.

 

Signature:

James Cornish

Page White Farrer

Date: 11 April 2024